Rants on Cycling and on Life:
Photos of people and bicycles that pass in front of my camera

1.06.2007

action and reaction

this is a long postanother long post

at first I was not going to put it up herebut... I figure maybe GeWilli will scan it and make me feel like it had been read

men are not all that evolved

we are very much still animalsanimals that act more out of impluse than thoughtaction and reaction

there are times when I give into my animal instinctswhere there is an actionrather than thoughtthere is just a reactionaction and reaction

it was at the end of the afternoonan afternoon on an unseasonably warm winter daynot sure of the actual measure but I think it may have been around 70 degress70 degrees and muggyit was the end of the afternoonit was the end of an afternoon ride

after a morning with kids and hikes and kids and other kidscome afternoon lisa subbed in as den mothershe was refreshed from yoga and some time away from the kidsher return to the task of watching the kids freed things upthis offered my window of opportunityand I must tell you...napping came very close to winning over riding

but... I did not give into my nature and I got out on the bikethe multiple days of rain prior removed dirt from my list of optionssure gambril state park drains wellbut my window of opportunity did not offer for an hour up and an hour back in the carthen parking lot timeoh... there was the issue of not having someone to ride withas gambril is a nice little collection of east coast granite rock gardensnot the most wise place to ride alonealways good to ride with a buddyespecially at someplace like gambrilnot just to have a someone to drag you out if you get hurtbut also riding with someone aides in picking up the intensity and the focus

so...with the kids being entertained by the wife I went to the basement to suit up for the ridewhile selecting my gearI also selected my bikethe selection of the bike would also dictate the destination of the ride

with under two hours in this saturday afternoon window of opportunitythe frankenbike fixie seemed like as good an option as anythe specialized cross bike still has a rear flat from the Capital Cross Classicthe geared karate monkey needs a new middle ringthe middle ring on the bike is mangled such that there is a little ring or big ring optionwithout having shifting as an optionthe jamis nova has yet to be builtas the components including Midge bars have not arrivedsure the Karate Monkey Single Speed is ready to rollas that bike is sharing the still functional front wheel that was on the geared Monkeyit was almost through deduction that the 30 year old colnago built into a fixie was selected

suiting up was simple enoughjust a pair of knickers and a long sleeve baggy jersey over a standard jerseythen the pair of pearlizumi shoes that have the shimano cleats that almost match the mix match shimano pedals that exist on this biketime pedals are my modern pedals of choicebut... on my beaters, commuters, and frankenbike projects I often use whatever old and broken pedals I can find floating around the various boxes in my basement

rolled down the alley then onto the streetin less than a mile's time I was on the closed section of Beach Drive in Rock Creek Parkso were all sorts of other cyclists, roller bladers, people with dogs, adults with childrenthere were all sorts of couple activitiesit was late afternoon on an unseasonably warm weekend dayeveryone was out for an afternoon in the parkthe high speed peletons had long since finished their morning loopssure there were plenty of people in le Tour de Jokerthat is to be expected

it had been a while since I had done anything more than ride around downtown on the fixieit was good just to get the bike spinning and maintain that comfortable cadencesome speed changes for various variblesbut no need for stopping and starting again

the ride out past the Mormon temple was less than eventfulonce the road opened up again to traffic there was the standard bullshitnothing to get bothered bythe standard bullshit from car driving assholes

rode the winding asphalt out to the point where the road comes to a Tnot sure of the namenot that far... maybe 12 miles from homethen turned it aroundthere were a few more close passes that I was able to work through with some breathing exercises and the mantra serenity now

making the pass on several of these vehicles as the stop lights favored mehaving them stuck in the queue gave me some pleasureof course there was anxiety on their next approachbut... having not made and gestures or screamed any words there was no need for me to fear any intentional contactthere was no confrontation

at various points in the ride I snapped some shots of the other riders and the sights around methe camera battery was shutting the camera down on mebut there was enough juice for a few moving shotsonly one person merited the attention of me stoppingthat was a man riding on the bike path with his familyhis family was all riding bicycleswhile he was riding a large wheel unicycle

there was a very positive vibe to the daythere was pleasant eye contact and enjoyable exchangesat various parts in the ride I slowed for conversation with a few of the other cyclistsbut usually no more than a hello or nice bike

the ride back was similar to the ride upuneventfulpleasureably uneventful

on the final blocks of my rideI worked the small geared fixie up the hill to where I livethe standard tailgating and unsafe passes occuredbut the day was too nice for it to bother meagain there was the pleasure when I passed some of the cars stuck at the red lightall waiting for the green turn arrow at the top of the hill

sure enoughthe green arrow lit up for me perfectlyno need for me to do more than pause at the intersectionthis gave me pleasurethis apparetnly gave the following car aggravationin the short squat city block that had a stop sign just 15 yards ahead the car tried to make a passpassing wide and fast he broke the double center lineonly to see a white van coming down the hill straight at himin an effort to avoid a head on collision the car cut fast in front of mecutting me offforcing me to make a panic stophad I not anticipated his aggressive re-entry to the laneI would have most certainly been knocked off the bike

with the car stopped at the stop sign I rode up along side of himthere were words exchanged

as he drove away I gave him the birdhe stoppedI yelledI roded up the hill along side of his driver's side windowhe drove in an aggressive manner directly towards meI moved for shelter between the parked carsoncoming traffic forced him to stop rather than.... well... chase me down or run me down with my carnot sure what would have happened had his efforts had not been slowed by downhill traffic

then things got stupidmore words from both sidesall sorts of wordsvery few words about the actual incidentmore words about nothing

then when he put his car in gear and his focus forward I in a very ignorant and immature fashion issued the last profane utterancewhatever I said was enough to get him to get out of his caragainbeing a fool I called his bluffwith a poker face I avoided anything even close to a flinchbut... I used my bike as a barrier between usas this barrier would surely slow his attackhad this man been trained in Gracie Ju-Jitsu or another UFC discipline my bicycle between us would have slowed him from kicking my ass in 5 seconds to 8 or 9 seconds

his bark lessenedas I did not fleealthough I had called his bluff I was not looking to take this confrontation to a physical level

steam started to settlebut only after some more ignorant exchangestraffic was already starting to back upresidents were certainly looking out their windows

although I was not looking to make a friend out of this altercationI most certainly did not want him as a foeas it had been revealed that I lived in this areawhich would leave him eager to see me here againso I asked that we each learn from this encounter

we revisited what had happenedwe had spend so much time argueing the idea of the speed limit and the law that we had not ever discussed exactly what had happenedthe driver felt justified in zipping back in an effort to dodge the head onbut... the driver never thought about how he has jepordized my safety

it was an ugly and awkward situationthe details are not importantit is odd that this all turned out okayon another day I could aggitate the driver so much that I am pinned between the grill of their car and the side of a parked carthe rage was intensethe car is a dangerous weapon

but on this day...shockinglyit was not that I walked away friendsbut that I think that the driver may rethink his steps of the day and his approach when passing a cyclist in the futurehe claimed to be a cyclistbut he did not pass me as if he were a cyclist himself

in the endI was pleased he did not run me downI was pleased he did not beat me upI was pleased that he did not rush me forcing me to fight himI was pleased that we sorted things outin the endI think it turned out okayalthoughI wish he had not risked my life to save himself two seconds in traffic

okaynever mindI was going to proof thisbutno dice rock sliceit is too far down the blogno one caresno one listensI will just move on to the next adventure

Glad the encounter was resolved in a manner that allows you to tell us about it.

Rolled 50+ miles yesterday uneventful until 2 blocks from my house when a driver, oblivious to the world pulled a u-turn in front of me. She apologized profusely, my only comment was that Mirrors work well.

and in a fightthe one trained to fight will in the fightI am not trained to fight

it falls back on a simple notion

those who are right often stand their groundwhile those who are wrong fail to stand humblewhich brings it to a situation of aggressionwhere the issue tends not to be solvedin which case the argument can become physical

ending up proving not who was right or who was wrongbut who is a better fighter

I am too old to be concerned with being a tough guyas I did not develop the skills to be at tough guy in my prolonged adolescentsI do not possess them now

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